Happy Thursday! You're nearly there, keep up the great work!

Geek Goss 🤭 

• Drama alert! Tech guru Marques Brownlee faced a Twitter storm when a user took a swing at his brutal video review titled "The Worst Product I Have Ever Reviewed…For Now." The critic called out Marques for being "distasteful" and "almost unethical," arguing that with his massive 18 million subscribers, he should tread more carefully, suggesting his harsh words could doom the fledgling gadget. But Marques wasn't having it. (Source)

• In a spicy twist, a former Microsoft developer has thrown shade at TechSpot's latest article, which dramatically declared Windows 11's performance as "comically bad." The developer was quick to call out the publication, clarifying that their scathing critique was aimed only at the Start Menu's sluggishness, not the entire operating system. (Source)

• Heads up, Mac lovers! Apple's classic calculator is ditching its basic look for something way snazzier in the upcoming macOS 15 update. According to AppleInsider, get ready for a stylish design revamp that swaps out those dated square digits for chic round buttons—and wait for it—they morph into trendy pill shapes when stretched! But the glam doesn’t stop there. (Source)

The Past 24 hours ⌛

Unicorn club round the corner for Ather as it looks to raise $95M in pre-IPO round

Ather Energy is poised to join the unicorn club as it aims to raise $95 million in a pre-IPO funding round, with its valuation expected to exceed one billion dollars. Additionally, reports suggest that Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal may sell his significant stake in Ather to Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath, following earlier transactions during Ather's rights issue.

Microsoft’s Phi-3 shows the surprising power of small, locally run AI language models

Microsoft introduces Phi-3-mini, a compact AI model with 3.8 billion parameters, ideal for smartphones and laptops. This model offers powerful language capabilities similar to larger models but requires significantly less computational power.

Adobe’s impressive AI upscaling project makes blurry videos look HD

Adobe researchers have unveiled VideoGigaGAN, a new AI model that can upscale videos up to eight times their original resolution while maintaining high quality and avoiding "AI weirdness." This generative adversarial network (GAN) merges the best features of existing upscaling methods, offering sharper details with minimal flickering and distortions. Although it's just a research preview and not yet available in consumer software like Premiere Pro, VideoGigaGAN represents a significant step in video enhancement technology.

Windows 11 Start menu ads are now rolling out to everyone

Microsoft has begun rolling out ads in the Windows 11 Start menu , initially tested with Windows Insiders. These "recommendations" showcase apps from selected developers in the Microsoft Store, aimed at enhancing app discovery. Surprisingly, this feature advanced from beta to public release quickly, despite minimal user feedback. While optional now, the update will soon be mandatory for all Windows 11 users.

Netflix’s popular reality show The Circle has a new contestant - an AI voice assistant

You've probably heard of "The Circle," the reality show where contestants, isolated in their apartments, vie for a $100,000 prize based on their social media prowess. The show's unique aspect is the Circle App, a voice assistant that seems impossibly advanced, responding to commands like identifying photos from vague descriptions. Despite its futuristic portrayal, it turns out the behind-the-scenes reality involves producers manually transcribing players' spoken commands. This revelation adds a humorous layer to the show, highlighting the contrast between the high-tech presentation and the manual operations backstage.

Bit Boutique 👩🏾‍💻

• Portr | An open source ngrok alternative

• Reader | Convert any URL to a LLM-friendly input

Miscellaneous 🎲

The Man Who Killed Google Search

The dramatic tale of Google Search's decline begins in early 2019, marked by a "code yellow" signalling revenue concerns. Spearheaded by Ben Gomes, Google's then-head of search, this crisis was attributed to lagging search query growth and revenue delays, sparking a high-stakes intervention to boost performance. Despite efforts to separate search integrity from advertising influence, the push for aggressive growth led by Prabhakar Raghavan, the subsequent head of ads, and supported by CEO Sundar Pichai, prioritized profits over product quality. This strategic pivot culminated in significant changes to Google's search and ads presentation, aligning more with financial goals than user-centric values. The internal strife and philosophical shifts signify a broader trend in tech: prioritizing rapid growth and revenue over foundational product quality and user trust.

How to Get Microsoft Office for Free

For those seeking free options, Microsoft 365 Education is available at no cost to students and teachers from eligible institutions. Alternatively, the Microsoft 365 website offers free access to web app versions of popular Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, which require an internet connection for use.